I am struggling with giving myself permission to simultaneously homeschool my kids and find dedicated time for my own creative processes and goals, my own intense passions and learning.

I am struggling with articulating and defending the value of all the unpaid work that I do – domestic work, intellectual work, organizing work, community work – work that is integral to my family and community, but invisible or uncategorizable in the larger world.

I am struggling with the dichotomy between what I’ve always been told productive work looks like and my need for time and space to experiment, to take risks, to keep learning, to follow my heart, to trust the paths that are emerging before me, to redefine my life in meaningful ways.

I am struggling to define what education should look like for my kids, to find an approach that is right for my family, one that is built around core values of self-direction, creativity and questioning the status quo; but allows for boundaries on my own time, so that I’m not “on duty” through all of my children’s waking hours, so that I can do all the other work that is meaningful to me.

I am struggling with how to set those boundaries against what so often seem to be (and so often are) the real and pressing needs of children, husband, family, friends, and people in my community.

I am struggling to trust my redefinition of my life as radical and creative and life-giving and necessary for me instead of simply a reframing of domesticity into something more palatable.